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WANT OF FAITH

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Sep 24, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 39.

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WANT OF FAITH.

By The Commoner

ALL our troubles come from a want of faith in the all-wise and all-powerful God, who has told us that all things work together for good to them that love Him. If we love Him, and “keep His commandments,” we should keep on serving Him and leave the rest to Him. If our earthly parents strive so hard to secure the safety and happiness of their dependent child, surely the One who “so loved the world” will protect and bless His children, to whom he has said: “It is I; be not afraid.” We may not be able to see the stars because of the thick clouds, but we know they are still there, and if we but wait patiently and trustingly, in God’s own good time the shadows will break away, and in the glory of His presence there shall be no more night.
Our trials and afflictions are largely due to the fact that we have set our hearts upon the material things of this life, and when we are called to part with them, to give up the wealth for which we have labored, the power for which we have struggled, the position to which we have aspired, to leave the hilltops for the roadside of the valley, we feel that we can not bear to lose them, because they have absorbed part of our very life, and it is this that makes losses and disasters so crushing.
If we have lifted ourselves to that serene height whereon even our calamities serve for spiritual perfecting, and have so developed our faith in God’s goodness that we can say calmly, “God knows best,” then we can face the darkest shadows without a fear; meet the greatest losses without faltering, and, in the midst of the wildest tempest of despair, soar upward to a region where no grief can follow us; and no disaster or defeat rob us of the peace which compensates for all losses in this life.
The darker the shadow, the closer should we cling to His promises; and the more trials and troubles assail us, the higher should we seek to climb onto the vantage ground of unfaltering faith in God’s Word.—The Commoner.